by Pastor Victor Chen

For over six months, much of my interaction with the children of our church came through the screen. Though not quite the YouTube star, I would appear each Sunday shortly after 9am to a regular audience of church school students ranging from PreK through 6th grade at home.

There was the familiar opening music, blue backdrop, special guest appearances from other Church School teachers and animated lesson videos from “The Gospel Project”. I made sure to stay energetic and to the point, all the while speaking as if the students were in the same room.

The true star of the videos was our media director, Garrett Inouye, who made the videos come to life each week with careful editing and production. We tried to stay ahead of schedule by recording one week in advance, but with holidays and vacations, there were some days where we would record multiple videos in one sitting. 

At the same time the videos were being shown on Zoom, I was teaching in-person to a group of church school students first outside the children’s ministry office and then in the MPR. The reason why we pre-recorded the videos for our students online was so that I could focus on one audience at a time, both online and in-person between two departments, 1st/2nd and 5th/6th grade. Initially while trying a hybrid model, I wasn’t able to focus on either audience as my attention was split.

Over a month ago, we made the decision to end our pre-recorded church school videos. Recording videos weekly was beginning to take a toll as more ministries were reopening. By God’s grace, we were able to begin live streaming my main teaching from the MPR allowing students at home to tune in and follow along.

On 9/12, we will relaunch our church school in person. All grades through 6th grade will meet in the MPR at 9am for a main teaching session and breakout to their respective classrooms for lesson review, activities and small groups. Parents have the option of requesting an online option, which will be a link to view our livestream of the main session along with other resources to access with their children.

This also coincides with our launch of a unified curriculum, “The Gospel Project”, from the very beginning of a three-year cycle through the Bible. On 9/12, we will begin from Genesis 1. 

As I look back on church school during the stay at home order, I see so many changes and transitions. We went from nothing to Zoom to hybrid to pre-recorded videos and in-person outdoors to livestream and in-person indoors. 

The Lord has brought us so far.

I’m excited for where the Lord will bring us next.

Join us as we relaunch Church School in-person on 9/12. Parents can check in their students up through 6th grade in the MPR beginning at 8:45am and stay for a special parent orientation following the main teaching session. 

by Pastor Victor Chen

In an old television commercial, a bear climbs a yellow trailer, rips off the roof to peek inside and exclaims, “Hey, where’s the cream filling?”

The bear thought the yellow trailer was a Twinkie. 

You too may be looking at our website, Plugin or app and be asking, “Hey, where’s the summer program?”

Good question. 

Why isn’t there a weeklong summer program?

Though things are reopening after over a year of the “stay at home” order, much of our church, especially families, are still home. As we explored having a weeklong program, it became difficult to anticipate how many families would feel comfortable sending their children to a weeklong program and how many volunteers would feel comfortable serving throughout the week. In short, there were a lot of unknowns that made it difficult to plan.

Why isn’t there an online weeklong summer program?

Producing weekly videos for families to join Church School online is already a lot of work. Producing an entire weeklong program would require even more time and additional resources. For now, the livestream service and Church School videos are the priorities online. 

Furthermore, we are still providing in-person worship services in the sanctuary and in-person Church School in the MPR with breakout sessions in the MPR and various classrooms. It would be one thing to only produce online content, but to do both online and in person requires more attention, time and resources.

Finally, as a pastor (and parent), I am concerned about the screen time consumption our children have had with a year (or more) of distance learning. This summer, I would recommend our children rest their eyes, go outside, be active and play!

Our family is comfortable returning, what is available this summer for us?

I’m glad you asked! Because we want families to return to service and Church School in person when they are comfortable, we will have opportunities for families to come out on campus outdoors as a step towards returning. 

On June 27, we will have our next Summer Worship Night where families can come early to bring dinner and picnic on our lawn from 4:30-6pm. At 6pm, we will begin our program with family-friendly group activities for both children and adults. This is followed by a time of worship with a devotion as we learn and sing songs that span the generations represented in our church.

Note that this is not just for families, but for the entire church family. At our last Summer Worship Night on May 30, we were blessed to have a great mix of generations join and participate. College students and young adults led the group activity and hand motions for kids worship. It was neat to see the entire group worship as one family.

On July 30-31, we will have our last Summer Worship Night on Friday night with an optional Summer Worship Campout afterward! Households can come set up their tent, have a dinner picnic and join with the summer worship time. Afterward, they can sleep in their tent on our campus under the stars. We hope to provide brunch Saturday morning and allow everybody to enjoy hanging out on campus together.

If you are interested in participating in our Summer Worship Campout, please contact me at vchen@evergreensgv.org to sign up!

by Pastor Victor Chen

Mere months into leading our 5th/6th grade Church School department, I was faced with the task of identifying a person to head our 1st/2nd grade department. It was the beginning of the 2020 school year and we were still in the midst of a “stay at home” order. 

Church School was still largely done online and I was having a difficult time recruiting help for Church School. Finding a Department Head seemed impossible.

What were we going to do?

I remember proposing a solution to our other Church School Department Head leaders after much prayer. Though they admired my heart, they were concerned this was too much.

I admit it sounded crazy.

I would lead both 5th/6th and 1st/2nd grade departments. The only way I could do this is if we had a unified curriculum across all grades. I would produce pre-recorded lesson videos each week to be shown online, followed by break-out small groups by our Church School teachers. I would teach in person outdoors to everybody 0-6th grade and break everybody out into small groups according to their age groups.

Over six months later, we continue to offer a unified curriculum, “The Gospel Project”, across all grades through high school. For grades Pre-K through 6th, we continue to offer an online option with small groups. On May 2, we began having a unified Church School gathering indoors at 9am in the MPR. I teach the lesson in person, after which everybody breaks out to their respective departments for small groups and activities. 

More families are coming out as things reopen. children online and in-person are beginning to grasp the rhythm of the curriculum — the key passages families can commit to memory and the overarching themes for each unit of 4-5 lessons. The curriculum covers the entire Bible over three years, specifically highlighting how each part of the Bible points to the good news of Jesus. I especially appreciate the resources the curriculum provides to facilitate family worship throughout the week. With a unified curriculum, a family with multiple children can review the same lesson, the same theme and the same key passage.

Looking back, I had always wanted to introduce a unified curriculum for our Church School departments. My wife dreamed of being able to track with all three of our children and what they had learned in Sunday school. 

Who knew a unified curriculum would provide a solution to our church in a difficult season? Praise God that we have a clear path in “The Gospel Project” for a unified journey through the Bible and discovering how it points to Jesus.

This fall, The Gospel Project will begin its 3-year cycle going through the entire Bible beginning with Genesis 1. Join us as our Church School goes through The Gospel Project together. There is even a potential option to add an adult track so everybody can join along! Feel free to contact me at vchen@evergreensgv.org for more information. 

by Victor Chen

Let’s play an association game.

What is the first word that comes to mind when you see the following words?

Playground.
Toy store.
Library.
Classroom.
Church.

What words come to mind? What feelings come up? What memories are triggered? What associations are revealed?

If you couldn’t guess, all the words provided describe places from our childhood. The associations with these words come from years of repeated experience and ingrained messages, whether realized or not. 

The first two words could elicit feelings of joy and fun. These are places that encouraged play and enjoyment. 

The next two places could elicit feelings of boredom or obligation. We had to go to those places to read, study and pay attention. 

The final place is a toss-up. Though church may bring feelings of joy, that is not always common. More likely, our childhood experiences of church elicited feelings of duty and obligation, much like going to the library or to school. 

What associations do children have with church today? What associations are they making when church service comes via live stream?

These are the questions that haunt me as a Family Pastor. Frankly, these are questions that haunt me as a parent. 

Yes, we cannot always control what associations our children have with “church.” But, we can control the message they are receiving from us when it comes to “church.” 

As a parent, as a Church School teacher and as the Family Pastor, the message I want children to associate with church service is “listen.” I can’t control the hearts of children, but I can instill the call to “listen” during church service. From the children’s bulletin to the children’s messages, from the Church School points for completing sermon notes to prizes that reward listening during service, there is a constant battle to instill the association of “listening” with “church.” 

But if we don’t intentionally fight these battles, we lose our children and don’t relegate them to negative associations with “church.” We relegate them to ambivalent associations with “church.” 

Our children will learn to check out. Our children will learn to do their own thing as long as they keep quiet and don’t bother Mommy and Daddy. 

And what is the scariest word our children will associate with “church?”

Nothing.

by Terri Wong

On March 8, 2020, the Church School Department Heads met at 8am to discuss Picture Day, the Summer Quarter, Promotion Sunday, and the Fall. We had Church School (CS) classes as normal immediately following the meeting. Little did we know that would be our last in-person class for the school year. Throughout that week, COVID-19 was quickly spreading and we were soon in quarantine. We did not meet for CS the following Sunday (March 15), and we have not met in-person since then. God’s plans were different than our plans, but God’s plans and His purposes are much better.

We had to seek the Lord and ask Him to direct our plans for CS.  I am thankful for each Department Head and their hearts to pray, plan, and prepare during this time. I am thankful for the resourceful and dedicated CS teachers who continue to serve the students at Evergreen SGV. I am thankful for all the students and their eagerness to remain connected with the CS teachers. I am thankful for technology and the ability to meet virtually with our students on Zoom. I am thankful to God for His grace, His mercy, His love, and His goodness.

I wondered how we could do CS during this time, but God is good. We first connected with the 3rd and 4thgrade students by phone or FaceTime. Most conversations lasted 10 minutes, but some lasted one hour or even longer! The CS teachers commented that we got to see another side of the students – one that was more personable and deep. Our Zoom CS classes for 3rd and 4th grade continue through the summer with small break out groups, where we share questions related to the lesson and pray over personal prayer requests. It has been a time of learning, sharing, and mutual encouragement between the teachers and the smaller group of students.

We do not need a classroom to conduct CS. We only needed to trust that the Holy Spirit would lead us. From Kinder to 8th grade, the intentional efforts of the CS teachers to remain engaged and connected to the students have been blessed by the Lord. God is good – His plans are perfect and much better than we could ever imagine.